A Room with a View - Florence is You!

A Room with a View Lucy Honeychurch’s Florence

This December marks 30 years since the release of the Merchant-Ivory film A Room with a View. Marking a pinnacle of achievement for Merchant-Ivory, the film has been beloved by audiences ever since, particularly for its evocative and beautiful scenes set in Florence. It is seen by some as a near-perfect exemplar of adapting a novel for the screen, a tricky and controversial area of film criticism. A timeless classic, A Room with a View will continue to entrance audiences and inspire in them a love for Florence. Visit the following locations to follow in Lucy Honeychurch’s footsteps around the city. Piazza SS Annunziata In the film, Miss Lavish (Judi Dench) and Miss Bartlett (Maggie Smith) walk through this beautiful square, saluting the statue of Ferdinand de’ Medici. In the book, however, it is Lucy who goes to the piazza, where she is deeply moved by Andrea della Robbia’s ceramic representations of babies on the Ospedale degli Innocenti.

by Redazione November 10, 2015November 8, 2015

By Anna Souter – Writer –

Piazza SS Annunziata

In the film, Miss Lavish (Judi Dench) and Miss Bartlett (Maggie Smith) walk through this beautiful square, saluting the statue of Ferdinand de’ Medici. In the book, however, it is Lucy who goes to the piazza, where she is deeply moved by Andrea della Robbia’s ceramic representations of babies on the Ospedale degli Innocenti.

Santa Croce

Lucy goes to Santa Croce without a guidebook. She wanders around the huge church, stopping in front of the monument to Dante before going to look at the Giotto frescoes in the Cappella Bardi. The camera draws out details of the frescoes, providing a sharp counterpoint to the words of Reverend Eager, whose explanation of the works fails to capture their innovation and beauty.

Piazza della Signoria

In one of the most memorable scenes in A Room with a View, Lucy walks alone through the Piazza della Signoria, as the camera cuts to close-up details of many of the sculptures in the piazza and on the Loggia dei Lanzi. Silently, the film shows us how new and moving these images of nudity and passion must seem to a young Edwardian girl from the English countryside.

View of the Arno

The title of the film comes from the view that Lucy sees from her room. If you want to relive this moment, you can check in to the Hotel Degli Orafi and stay in the actual room that was used for filming.